CNRS Research Center, Paris
a pioneering neuroscientist with an extensive background in research and innovation, currently serving as Director of the European Institute for Theoretical Neuroscience at Paris-Saclay University.
Dr. Destexhe’s career includes prestigious roles such as Vice-Director of NeuroPSI, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Computational Neuroscience, and Research Director at CNRS, where he leads integrative and computational neuroscience studies.
Dr. Alain had already been converting his brainwaves into soundwaves to better visualize them for his research when he made a remarkable discovery.
During a flight, while listening to some of his own neuro-acoustic transductions, he became deeply relaxed and soon fell asleep to the soothing sounds of his brainwaves. This experience inspired him to conceptualize an audio sleep solution that would use personalized soundscapes to improve sleep quality.
“We created an entirely chemical-free and profoundly relaxing individualized sleep solution — and we called it myWaves.
Dr. Alain is best known for his work in neuroscience, network neuroscience, thalamus research, electrophysiology, electroencephalography, and neuronal bursting. His studies address areas such as synaptic noise, neurotransmission, and the neuroscience of brain states, including wakefulness, sleep, and anesthesia. He also integrates research on oscillations, cortex, thalamus, electrophysiology, and imaging.
His neuroscience research spans from the fundamental biophysical properties of neurons and networks to explaining the emergence of large-scale brain activity states during wakefulness, sleep, and anesthesia. He also investigates pathologies such as various forms of epilepsy in both animal models and humans.
Dr. Destexhe has published 175 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 2 monographs, 35 peer-reviewed conference papers, 7 co-edited volumes, 49 book chapters, and numerous non-peer-reviewed publications, including News & Views and press releases.
His full body of scientific work can be explored on his Google Scholar profile.
Neurocompute (neurocompute.cnrs.fr) is a platform dedicated to computational neuroscience research, primarily associated with CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique).
CNRS is a global leader in scientific research, employing over 32,000 researchers and staff across more than 1,100 laboratories in France and around the world. With an annual budget of more than €3.5 billion, it is one of the largest fundamental research organizations internationally.
CNRS also maintains an extensive portfolio of over 7,000 active patents, demonstrating its strong commitment to innovation and technology transfer. The myWaves project is a prime example of CNRS’s ability to transform cutting-edge neuroscience research into patented, real-world applications, leveraging this vast intellectual property ecosystem to advance personalized neurotechnology and sleep enhancement.
To better understand this discovery and evaluate its potential for the wider market, we conducted a clinical trial with insomnia patients — with highly positive results. Led by Dr. Damien Léger at the Center for Sleep and Vigilance, Paris Hôtel-Dieu Hospital (APHP), the study tested the sleep-inducing sounds on patients suffering from chronic insomnia.
The results showed clear benefits: increased REM sleep, reduced REM latency, and an overall increase in total sleep duration. During the trial, every participant rated myWaves 8 or higher out of 10. A peer-reviewed clinical journal article on this study is expected to be published within the next 6–9 months.
Prof. Marcello Massimini, MD, PhD
Professor of Physiology, University of Milan
Prof. Mavi Sánchez-Vives, MD, PhD
ICREA Research Professor, IDIBAPS; Co-Director, Event Lab, University of Barcelona
Prof. Anton Sirota, PhD
Professor of Systems Neurophysiology, LMU Munich
Maj. Gen. (Dr.) Josef Schmid III, MD
Aerospace Medicine Specialist, Advisor
Dr. Gaby Badre, MD, PhD
Sleep Medicine Specialist & Researcher
Ever wondered how your sleep app really works? This study reveals the groundbreaking neuroscience behind myWaves, developed by Dr. Alain Destexhe and his CNRS research team at Paris-Saclay.
From recording human brain neurons during deep sleep to converting brainwaves into sound sequences, decades of research on sleep spindles, delta waves, and gamma oscillations have been transformed into technology that can enhance your sleep quality.
The research even includes rare recordings of individual human neurons during different stages of sleep — science that is now literally in the palm of your hand.
